You are here:

Churchill

Product Details

In Churchill, Roy Jenkins provides a comprehensive portrait of Winston Churchill from his childhood to the critical World War II period and beyond in a single, definitive volume. Roy Jenkins combines unparalleled command of British political history and his own high level government experience in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.

Exceptional in its breadth of knowledge and distinguished in its stylish wit and penetrating intelligence, Churchill is one of the finest political biographies of our time.

Preview Your Review

Your Review Has Been Submitted

Educational/Developmental Value:

Durability:

Hours of Play:

Thank you. Your review has been submitted and will appear here shortly.

Reviews

Rated 4 out of
5 by
riles360 from
An elegant, powerful workJenkins concludes his book stating "I now put Churchill, with all his idiosyncrasies, his indulgences, his occasional childishness, but also his genius, his tenacity and his persistent ability, right or wrong, successful or unsuccessful, to be larger than life, as the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street". His biography of Churchill supports that in every way. This was one of the most challenging biographies I have read- but also the most rewarding. I do not know what I enjoyed more- the story of Churchill himself or the writing style and delivery of Roy Jenkins. His exploration of Churchill was exceedingly well researched, used quotation from other sources elegantly and with complete relevance, while at the same time introducing his own analysis. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Churchill and his preeminence in British politics in the twentieth century.

Date published: 2011-08-03

Rated 5 out of
5 by
John_Parker from
It Takes a Politician to Understand PoliticianThe author, a long time Labour cabinent minister and now a member of the House of Lords, is able to put the life of Churchill in perspective. We get an understanding not only of the man but of the organization he was so long associated with, Parliament, and by extention Cabinet. You realize how amazing it really was for Churchill to be writing books of history while running government departments. Exhaustively researched, Mr. Jenkins's writing is still lucid and not as dry as official academics. For a single volume work on the war time prime minister, this is probably the best there is.

– More About This Product –

Churchill

The following ISBNs are associated with this title:

ISBN - 10: 0452283523

ISBN - 13: 9780452283527

Read from the Book

Chapter OneA Doubtful Provenance* * *Churchill's provenance was aristocratic, indeed ducal, and some have seen this as the most important key to his whole career. That is unconvincing. Churchill was far too many faceted, idiosyncratic and unpredictable a character to allow himself to be imprisoned by the circumstances of his birth. His devotion to his career and his conviction that he was a man of destiny were far stronger than any class or tribal loyalty. There have been politicians of high duty and honour — Edward Halifax and Alec Douglas-Home immediately spring to mind — who did see life through spectacles much bounded by their landed background. But Churchill was emphatically not among them. Apart from anything else, he never had any land beyond his shaky ownership (and later only occupation) of the 300 acres surrounding Chartwell, the West Kent house only twenty-four miles from London which he bought in 1922 and just managed, with financial subventions from friends, to cling on to for the remaining four decades of his life. The second reason was that the Marlborough heritage was not one which stood very high in esteem, record of public service or secure affluence. The family had a memorable swashbuckling founder in John Churchill, the victor in the first decade of the eighteenth century of the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenaarde and Malplaquet, who acquired a fine mansion among other rewards. But even this first Duke, although he inspired Winston Churchill to w

Table of Contents

List of IllustrationsPrefaceGlossary of Parliamentary TermsPART ONE A Brash Young Man 1874-1908 1. A Doubtful Provenance 2. Subaltern of Empire and Journalist of Opportunity 3. Oldham and South Africa 4. Tory into Liberal 5. Convert into Minister 6. An Upwardly Mobile Under-SecretaryPART TWO The Glow-worm Glows: The Morning was Golden 1908-1914 7. Two Hustings and an Altar 8. The Sorcerer's Apprentice at the Board of Trade 9. A Young Home Secretary 10. From Prisons to Warships 11. ‘The Ruler of the King's Navee’ 12. Churchill in AsquithlandPART THREE The Noontide was Bronze 1914-1918 13. A Flailing First Lord 14. Last Months at the Admiralty 15. Finished at Forty? 16. An Improbable Colonel and a Misjudged Re-entry 17. Lloyd George's Ambulance Wagon Arrives a Little Late 18. Making the Most of MunitionsPART FOUR Hesitant Afternoon Sunshine 1919-1939 19. Anti-Bolshevik Crusader and Irish Peacemaker 20. A Politician without a Party or a Seat 21. Gold and Strikes 22. A Relentless Writer 23. Cuckoo out of the Nest 24. Unwisdom in the Wilderness 25. An Early Alarm Clock 26. Arms and the Covenant 27. From the Abdication to Munich 28. The Last Year of the PeacePART FIVE The Saviour of his Country and the Light of the World? 1939-1945 29. Quiet War with Germany and Uneasy Peace with Chamberlain 30. Through Disaster in the Fjords to Triumph in Downing Street 31. Twenty-One

From the Publisher

In Churchill, Roy Jenkins provides a comprehensive portrait of Winston Churchill from his childhood to the critical World War II period and beyond in a single, definitive volume. Roy Jenkins combines unparalleled command of British political history and his own high level government experience in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.

Exceptional in its breadth of knowledge and distinguished in its stylish wit and penetrating intelligence, Churchill is one of the finest political biographies of our time.

About the Author

Roy Jenkins is the author of 18 books, including Gladstone (1997), which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Active in British politics for half a century, he entered the House of Commons in 1948 and subsequently served as Minister of Aviation, Home Secretary, and Chancellor of the Exchequer; he has also been the President of the European Commission and Chancellor of Oxford University. In 1987 he took his seat in the House of Lords

Editorial Reviews

"From Roy Jenkins's masterly biography, we emerge marveling at the manifold gifts that informed Churchill's genius for leadership." —Harold Evans in the New York Times Book Review

"One might wonder whether anything fresh remains to be said about Winston Churchill, but Roy Jenkins uniquely combines the skills of a master biographer with the insights of a practical politician and draws a fresh portrait of the great Englishman with authority, elegance, and wit. This is far and away Churchill's best one-volume biography." —Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

"This is a splendid addition to Churchillian lore, a chronicle full of revealing personal anecdotes, delightful wartime vignettes, and fascinating new insights into the critical 1939-1945 years." —Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel